by Project Kyle
Nerd took a moment to process Sophia’s words. After a few seconds of processing, he responded to her by saying,
“I feel sad about the plague victim, but because I’m me, I don’t know how to express it. So, I just…go quiet and try to distance myself until my feelings ease. But it’s hard because they’re so powerful. Way more powerful than what is normal, and it’s frustrating, because most people will never know…because I don’t know how to let them know.”
“In most cases, I’ve noticed you seem to struggle with empathy…but in other cases, I have seen you express it in a way that most humans can’t. I was so terrified of that thing back in the medical bay; I didn’t want to be anywhere near it. You looked past all of that and comforted it before it died…and now you’re sad. That’s sweet, and it’s something that most humans would never even consider.”
“I’m not like most humans…but I think you know that already.”
“That’s what I want to know… Is there any reason you’re like this? It’s not a bad thing, but from the moment I met you, I could tell that you were…different. At first it made me feel uncomfortable, but I’m starting to see things very differently. It’s like you see things from a perspective that completes humanity. I’m always learning new things from you every day, and it’s helping me to become better.”
“I’m learning new things every day from you too. Things that I had never considered.”
“So, what gives? Were you always like this? Or did something happen to you that drove you to become something that humanity needed?”
“Both.” Nerd closed his eyes. He did not want Sophia to define him by what he was about to say, and he didn’t want her to treat him any differently. He enjoyed their friendship the way it was. But she deserved to know; things would just get more complicated for her if she never knew. So, he decided to trust her. He felt it was the honorable thing to do. He felt that it was the human thing to do.
“Ever since I was a child, I knew I was different. I used to work on science experiments when I was a kid. My brain excelled at things that normal humans just couldn’t do. I was very creative and visualized things in my own language. Even as a baby, I used to escape from my play pen by constructing a stairway with my toys. As a kid, my parents thought I was a little genius…but when I hit my teen years, things became a little more complicated. I began flapping my hands whenever I got excited or felt a strong emotion that I could not express. I became ultra-sensitive to textures and certain sounds. I began to hate socializing with people because they wanted me to be normal. So, I did whatever I could to stay away from other humans. Eventually, my hand flapping and emotional outbursts got so bad that my parents took me to a psychiatrist, and that was when I found out why I was the way I was.
Sophia, I have autism, specifically a mild case of Asperger’s syndrome. I’m an ASPI, meaning that my mind works differently from that of most humans.”
Sophia took a moment to process what Nerd had just told her. She was having trouble believing him at first, but the one thing about Nerd that was truly amazing was that he didn’t know how to lie. Not that he wouldn’t; he literally couldn’t. She slowly nodded her head but maintained a very startled and disbelieving look in her eyes.
“You’re autistic,” she responded. “Oh…”
“You seem sad?”
“I am. Having autism is horrible. I can’t even begin to imagine what that’s like…”
“Having autism is not horrible! It’s just been greatly misunderstood by humanity.”
Sophia felt Nerd’s tension starting to rise. She had unintentionally hit a nerve, but she wasn’t sure how.
“Are you upset with me?” she asked.
“No,” Nerd responded. “I’m just tired of people telling me that my gift is a curse. It would be like me telling a Zentar that it was horrible that they were a Zentar. Or a Zentar telling a human that it’s horrible that they’re human. Or if you want to go to the planet that we originated from, say that an American was told that it was horrible that he was American. Or someone that was British, that it was horrible that they were British, and so on and so forth. I know that may not make sense to you right now, but for me…it gets me very deep. I don’t let my autism define me, just as where you were born or what race you are may not define you. But there’s always going to be a little bit of affection towards what I view as my native roots…because despite what humans may believe, it’s not a form of mental illness. It just means that I was born different than the rest of you.”
Sophia again took a moment to let Nerd’s words sink in. Her mind was starting to hurt, as there was definitely a lot to this, but she was getting the answers she needed, and at least her commander’s character was starting to make sense. She took a few deep breaths and did her best to relax herself. She tried to hide the fact that she was starting to get a headache from all the information running through her mind.
“So, you’re really smart, but you struggle on a few things.”
“I am light years ahead of you in some ways but light years behind in others. I call myself Nerd, supreme human intelligence, because that’s the title I was given as a Deep Cosmos agent. That and the fact that Nerd, slightly above average human intelligence doesn’t quite have the same ring to it, so I have to play the part. I’m actually no more or less intelligent than you or anyone else. My mind just thinks a little differently, which through normal human eyes can be mistaken for either brilliance or primitiveness. That’s all.”
“And you have trouble expressing your emotions?”
“Yes. Although I have trouble expressing my feelings, I still have them, sometimes at a level that’s way beyond human. As a result, I’ve had to learn how to act my emotions out. I used to spend hours in front of a mirror. I would think of an emotion, and when that emotion came, I would move my face to the position that it was supposed to be in, and then I had to memorize where my face muscles were when I thought of that emotion. It was a long process and took me forever to get right. I’m getting better now, but it still takes time.”
“Okay! I can understand that. It makes sense. I want to talk to you more about this, but I need some time to chew on what you have just told me. But thank you! I think this will help me to understand you a little better.”
“Of course! I’m always happy to—”
Nerd stopped for a moment and seemed to be distracted by something. He took off his glasses and started cleaning them with his lab coat. He was very confused, and it showed.
“What’s wrong?” Sophia asked.
“Strange…” Nerd mused. “For second I could’ve sworn I saw some distortion out in space, like a cloaked starship, but I don’t see anything right now.”
The gears in Nerd’s head began turning again, and this time, Sophia let him think. She needed time to think too, so in this case, silence was a good thing.
The two gazed at the stars together for almost ten minutes until they were interrupted by Henry Smith. He put his arms around them both and snapped them out of their thoughts with an enthusiastic voice.
“How’re my brother and sister doing?” He said to them. “I was starting to worry about you; you were both gone for nearly half an hour.”
Nerd’s head was spinning. He never enjoyed being snapped out of it when he was deep in thought. To him, it was the equivalent of driving a car into a tree. However, he knew Henry’s intentions were good, and his dynamic personality took the edge off whenever he distracted Nerd. Nerd rubbed his forehead and smirked.
“Your timing never ceases to amaze me,” Nerd said to Henry.
“It’s fantastic! I know, but enough about me. The commander wants to talk to you. He’s eager to know if you have learned anything about the virus. All of us noticed you were observing something on the victim’s neck. We were wondering if that was of any importance?”
Nerd did not say anything. He simply nodded his head and made his way over to the commander after noticing that he was standing a few feet beh
ind him.
“Ah, Nerd!” Commander Williams said. “We were curious what your thoughts were about the victim. Have you made any discoveries?”
“I have a few theories…but I don’t want to voice them until I have more facts. I hate to say it, but I will need to view another victim if I’m going to know for sure.”
“I see…well, I just hope it doesn’t happen again here. I don’t want to lose any more of my crew members. This tragedy was devastating enough!”
Nerd was going to respond, but he was interrupted by the sound of his communicator alerting him that he was receiving a video call from the central commander. Nerd pulled out his communicator and responded to the commander’s call.
“Greetings, Central Commander,” he chirped. “I hope you bring good news?”
Sophia and Henry were both stunned to see the central commander’s appearance. He was a jellyfish-like blob with transparent skin and was filled with a gel-like fluid. His muscles and nerves were visible, his brain was visible, and all of his internal organs were visible. The creature had four eyes, one on the front of his head, the other on the left, one to the right, and one behind him. This was obviously not the supreme commander that Nerd was so intimidated by; in fact, judging by the tone of Nerd’s voice, he seemed to view the creature as a friend. But given the creature’s name, he was still a high-ranking officer within the Deep Cosmos organization.
The creature responded in a voice that echoed and sounded a little like he was underwater. “Nerd!” The central commander responded. “There has been another strike on a citizen located on a nearby freighter, located only a few light years away. Their captain has just been struck with the galactic plague, and they’re sending out a distress call.”
“I see. I’ll have my team investigate right away.”
“Good. Central Commander out.”
The video chat ended, and Nerd turned to Commander Williams. “I’m sorry, but I must investigate this matter, as this may give me the lead I need to solve this mystery.”
“As you wish…but I’m going to send the three galactic agents with you. The government is going to want to know what’s going on.”
“What? No! I don’t need anyone else’s help; my two companions will do fine.”
“Nerd,” Captain Baker said, “we have our orders. The galactic government wishes no quarrel with the Deep Cosmos organization. But this mission has become serious. We just need to stay with you for a little while. If this turns out to be a wild goose chase, we will leave you in peace. You have my word.”
Nerd groaned; he was clearly not impressed, but he needed to get on his way as soon as possible, and, considering how much trouble his true identity was in with the galactic government, he did not want his alter ego to suffer the same fate.
“Fine!” David said. “But if you cause me any trouble, I will eject all three of you into the nearest airlock I can find. Got it?”
Captain Baker nodded his head in agreement.
The six of them said their goodbyes to Commander Williams, then made their way towards the Iron Heart. Nerd activated the ship’s engines, and within moments, they had left the space station Nebula. He set a course for the freighter coordinates that the central commander had sent him. He activated the hyperdrive, and the Iron Heart entered hyperspace. The jump only took ten minutes, and before they knew it, their destination had been reached.
The freighter was a lot smaller than the freighter Wrath and was thankfully in much better condition. Nerd scanned the ship and was grateful to see that there were indeed transporter pads located within it. He contacted the freighter and asked permission to beam aboard. He was swiftly given permission, and Nerd urged his crew to head downstairs to the transporter room. As soon as his crew left the bridge, he put the ship on autopilot and followed them downstairs.
Upon reaching the transporter room, he beamed each crew member on board, two at a time, until it was only him and Henry left.
“Wait!” Henry said. “How are we going to get back if all of us are beaming aboard?”
“The ship’s computer will handle it,” Nerd assured him. “Trust me! I had to do this all the time when I was by myself.”
Nerd and Henry both stepped on their transporter pads, and Nerd asked the computer to beam them both aboard. A weightless feeling enveloped them both, and they were transported to the nearby space freighter.
As soon as they arrived at the scene, panic and fear surrounded them. The crew members were losing it, and the four members of Nerd’s crew he had previously beamed aboard looked terrified.
“The plague is spreading!” One of the freighter’s crew members yelled out. “Six more have been infected!” Nerd realized that they were not safe and urged the crew of the freighter to calm down. He was approached by the ship’s lieutenant. Though he was less panicked than the others, it was evident that he was still upset and on the brink of losing his own sanity. But he was relieved to see Nerd, as he knew help was on the way.
“Nerd!” He said. “Thank goodness you are here. My name is Lieutenant Braxton. The galactic plague has infected multiple crew members. We’re not sure if it’s spreading…or what it’s doing. But it’s obviously taken a liking to our ship and our crew!”
“I understand why this is troubling you,” Nerd said. “I just witnessed a victim for the first time myself. This whole epidemic is horrid! Do you have a restrained specimen that I can observe?”
“Yes! Sadly it is—or was—our captain. We have him in our medical bay. Please follow me.”
Nerd and his crew followed Lieutenant Braxton through the hallways of the space freighter. The ship shook uncontrollably for a moment…then stopped.
“Strange,” Nerd said to himself. “We’re currently located in empty space. There’s nothing around that should’ve done that…”
Nerd was so distracted that he did not notice the other infected crew members lying around the spacecraft’s halls. Henry and Sophia, however, were quite shaken over the sights they saw. They all looked just as bad as the one they had seen locked up in the Nebula lab. It was upsetting, but there was nothing they could do.
Finally, all of them reached the medical room. This time the victim was tied to a medical bed, and his jaw was restrained with a muzzle. But Nerd wasn’t interested in his face. He quickly went up to the victim’s neck. His eyes grew wide as his suspicions were confirmed—yet again, there was a small dot-shaped scar.
Thoughts began to flood Nerd’s mind as all the pieces of the mystery started to come together like a puzzle. His heart began pounding as both fear and excitement rushed through him like never before. He was excited that he was about to solve what was happening, but he was fearful and disturbed, because his conclusion was not a pleasant one at all.
Nerd’s mind began to replay backwards. He recalled the freighter shaking, the distortion in the stars, and Sophia’s panic upon seeing something in an air vent.
“Sophia!” He said. “I need to know what you thought you saw back at Nebula.”
“What?” Sophia responded.
“You thought you saw something when we were examining the crime scene. You were looking up at the ceiling at one of the ship’s air vents. I asked you what was wrong, and you didn’t want to say… I need to know. It’s critical that I know.”
Sophia thought back to the event that Nerd was talking about and recalled what she saw. She didn’t want to say anything before, as it triggered painful memories of her own past, but she could tell that it was urgent that she reveal what she saw. She took a deep breath and pushed herself to explain the image that upset her.
“You’re going to think that I’m crazy, everyone else did, but for a second, I could’ve sworn I saw two glowing green eyes staring back at me.”
Instantly, Nerd’s excitement was overpowered by fear.
“No,” he groaned out loud. “Please, not him.”
Nerd had solved the case, but by no means was that a good thing, because now he knew how much danger
the galaxy was in.
Fear soon turned into panic as Nerd quickly reached for his communicator. He called the central commander, who responded instantly.
“Central Commander!” he said in a panicked voice. “I know what happened to the victims of the galactic plague! They were not killed by a virus.”
“What?” The central commander responded. “What are you talking about?”
“The victims were not killed by a virus but by a man. Commander…they were murdered!”
Chapter 14 Green eyes
Earth date: February 22nd, 2010
Time: 240
Location: The Iron Heart
Sophia was unable to fall back to sleep. She had woken up 30 minutes ago, and it was evident that her mind would not shut down.
She remembered how deeply she had wanted to go on another action-filled mission and how disappointed she felt when she found out they were simply attempting to track down a disease, but this? This was very heavy and unsettling. She could not believe that one person could kill so many people single-handedly, let alone have the heart to go through with it. In her short time on the Iron Heart, Sophia had both heard and experienced things that truly made her sick. There were rotten people in the galaxy, people who would slaughter and kill for the most trivial of reasons. She was only grateful that her commander and crewman were not among them.
Sophia was not the only one, however. Even David, the same man who stood up to Dr. Crimson without breaking a sweat, was greatly troubled by the news. So much so that he was unable to tell anyone about who the killer was. He had encountered him before, but that was all David was willing to tell his crew members. He was too upset at the time and Sophia could sense it strongly.
Sophia picked herself up and made her way downstairs. She snuck past the third bay, which was the medical bay. All the guys were sleeping in the hospital beds, snoring up a storm. Thankfully, it was so early she would not have to deal with any of the galactic agents. They were out cold and showing no signs of waking up anytime soon.
